Geography:
Location: Northern Africa, bordering the Mediterranean Sea, between Egypt and Tunisia.
Area: 1,759,540 km² (679,362 sq. mi., more than three times the size of France)
Terrain: Mediterranean coastline, highlands and deserts (90% of Libya) in interior.

Climate: Mediterranean along the coast; dry and extreme hot in desert interior.

Background:
Since he took power in a 1969 military coup, Col. Muammar Abu Minyar al-QADHAFI has espoused his own political system – a combination of socialism and Islam – which he calls the Third International Theory. Viewing himself as a revolutionary leader, he used oil funds during the 1970s and 1980s to promote his ideology outside Libya, even supporting subversives and terrorists abroad to hasten the end of Marxism and capitalism. Libyan military adventures failed, e.g., the prolonged foray of Libyan troops into the Aozou Strip in northern Chad was finally repulsed in 1987. Libyan support for terrorism decreased after UN sanctions were imposed in 1992. Those sanctions were suspended in April 1999.(Source: CIA – The World Factbook)